Randy Carlyle may have given his charges the day off on Sunday — a few swung the golf clubs, heresy to traditionalists — and also kept them off the ice on Monday.

But don’t take that as an indication the Maple Leafs are now on spring break until the post-season begins.

Those young Leafs sitting by the pool in the midday sun on Monday afternoon, undoubtedly without a dab of sunblock? They’d better not have Malkin-like sunburns when the playoff-bound Leafs return to the ice bright and early Tuesday morning in preparation for the final three games of the season.

“We’re going to get as many points as we possibly can, finish as high as we possibly can,” the Leaf head coach said Monday. “Resting guys will not be an option.

“This team will go at a pace that is expected to have success. That’s what we have to do.”

The Leafs are still chasing both Montreal and Boston, while the Islanders, Rangers and Senators are chasing them.

“The only way we’ll be sitting guys out is through injury or they look extremely tired,” said Carlyle. “It’s our job to get everybody playing. We have some guys who are not playing to their potential. If we have to insert them into the lineup because of that, to get them going, we’ll make a lineup decision.”

“I think the more Dion plays, the better he plays,” said Carlyle. “And he thinks that, too.”

For the entire Leaf organization, Saturday night’s win in Ottawa came as much with a sense of relief as triumph. It’s not like the walls were closing in, but after last season’s second-half collapse there was a heightened concern that anything could happen.

“It was relief at first, no question,” said GM Dave Nonis, who took over from the dismissed Brian Burke on the eve of the season. “Let’s just say expectations were placed on ourselves by ourselves because of where we sat in the standings. It was about pressure we put upon ourselves.”

Interestingly, Nonis’ instinct when the final buzzer went was to text-message Burke to make sure his former boss felt included.

“It was the first thing I did. I know what it’s like on the other side, to put a lot of time into something, to put pieces in place and not be there when the team has success,” said Nonis, referencing his own dismissal from Vancouver. “I know what that feels like.”

Carlyle, who made the playoffs five of his six seasons in Anaheim, had a similar reaction as Nonis to Saturday’s win.

“Sure it’s relief. Our goal was to make the playoffs,” he said. “We thought it was the most important thing for our group, our organization. We had to qualify for the playoffs.

“Did I think we could? I think we thought we had the potential to score goals. We knew that. Our issues were more on defensive side of it, and still are. Simple as that. We’re not proclaiming we’re this or that. We’re very much a team that needs to understand the way we have to play. When we get away from it, the results are very poor.”

The Leafs coach wasn’t surprised his squad struggled to deliver its best performance over the past week.

“That’s pressure. More than anything that’s the pressure that has grasped a young group,” he said. “We’re not a very mature group. The experience factor we have isn’t really great. Who are our most experienced people? Johnny Liles and Dion?

“We’re a young team finding a way, and that’s the most important thing. Find a way. Get it done. Find a way. (Saturday night against Ottawa) was a prime example. A month from now nobody’s going to remember how many shots on goal we gave up or what the penalty killing was or what the power play was. It was a 4-1 win.”

The Leafs play two clubs who have had massively disappointing seasons on Wednesday (Tampa Bay) and Thursday (Florida), then head home to face the Canadiens in a game that could have meaning in the standings.

The wake-up call for his young team, Carlyle figures, will come next week.

“The playoffs are going to get tougher. Everybody’s going to be 20 per cent better defensively in the playoffs,” he said. “They’ll be 20 per cent more physical. You have to be 20 per cent more in every area of your game. The first-round series will be a man’s game. It will be very physical and there will be confrontations in every area.”

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